Pork Vermicelli!

If there is one thing Mark and I miss about Colllege Station...ok.

Scratch that.

Mark and I miss LOTS of things about College Station. Friends. Family. Church. BCS. Climbing wall. And etcetera...

but, the one thing I was referring to that we miss tons are these 2 food joints off Texas. Pho Johns and Rosie Phos. Oh how we miss the pho. More than that, we miss the vermicelli. Last night I decided I'd try and whip up one myself from a recipe I found in this Gourmet Today cookbook.

Side note - this cookbook is amazing. We bought it for 50% off at one of the many Borders close out sales...and we've cooked every meal from it since. On Monday night we had some friends over and I made a delectable arugula salad with pancetta wrapped peaches, the most commented on corn and tomato gratin, and steph king even helped out by making the delish catalan tomato grilled bread...with a beer can chicken as the main dish. Every single bite was amazing and I am officially in love with this cookbook. 

Back to vermicelli. So. We found a pork vermicelli recipe in here and with all the amazingness we had on Monday evening, we had high hopes for supper last night. Mark even texted me during the day saying "I AM SO EXCITED TO COME HOME AND EAT!" That's not a normal occurrence. He was stoked about his vermicelli.

If you're just as stoked as we were here is what you need to do...

Get this stuff.

and this stuff.

To be even more precise for you here is a list:

1/4 pound thin rice vermicelli noddoles

1/4 cup unseasoned rice vinegar

1 tablespoon + 1 tablespoon Asian fish sauce

1 tablespoon + 1/3 cup sugar

1/3 teaspoon + 1/2 teaspoon salt

1 carrot, shredded

1/4 cup scallions, thinly sliced

1/4 cup unsalted, roasted peanuts, chopped

1/3 cup fresh cilantro and mint, torn

8 (1/4 inch) boneless pork loin chops

1 finely chopped shallot (1/3 cup)

2 limes (juiced)

Once you have what you need you will first want to make the noodles.

Vermicelli noodles are rice noodles that can be found in the Asian section of your grocery store. If you don't have International sections, you should look near the rice and it should be there. The store should have a selection of various rice noodles - you'll choose the vermicelli style...aka the really thin ones.

To make them you first need to boil a pot of water and fill a different pot or bowl with hot water from your sink.

Place the noodles in the bowl of water from your sink and let it all soak for around 10 minutes.

 

Then, drain the vermicelli noodles in a sieve. If you don't have a sieve (such as myself) you can use a strainer.

Just make sure you watch the noodles because they could easily slip through.

Now place the drained noodles in the boiling water for 1 minute. 

If you are impatient like me and place the noodles in when the water is really just simmering, make it 2 minutes.

{it's boiling...kind of}

Once that has gone for 1 (or 2) minutes place it back in the sieve/strainer.

But.

This time run cold cold water on it to get it to stop cooking.

Once all of the noodles are cooled, turn the water off and let the vermicelli strain away. You want these noodles dried off. It helps to use towels to make it even more dry. 

I used paper towels and patted it down pretty nicely. 

You can even have the noodles sit there while you get the rest of the dish ready.

Next, you can make the sauce that will go with the salad. This is a noodle salad. I don't think I told you that.

Whisk together 1/4 unseasoned rice vinegar, 1 tablespoon Asian Fish Sauce (watch out, this stuff smells real fishy), 1 tablespoon sugar, and 1/4 teaspoon salt. Whisk away until the sugar and salt are fully dissolved. Then set that aside.

According to the list way up top, you should already have one shredded carrot, a handful of cilantro and mint leaves (tear these up if they are big), thinly sliced scallions that equal out to be about 1/4 cup, and 1/2 cup chopped unsalted and roasted peanuts. Leave all of those items aside.

I keep everything in little bowls. If you don't have the counterspace...which will be me in 1 month from today because of small kitchens in California...you can go ahead and combine the noodles, sauce, and all that's mentioned above. I don't like to do that because I like how it looks in the end without it. No difference though. 

Now that the whole salad/noodle part is done you'll want to make the pork.

Here's what you do. 

Get your boneless 1/4 inch thick pork and pound them into being thinner. About half the size. You can do this by placing them in between plastic wrap and pounding them away with a mallet.

{use the non spiky side on such thin meat}

Once pounded down cut each pork loin in 1/2 lengthwise.

Then place all the pieces in a bowl.

Then, go to your stove stop and place a little saucepan on medium heat. 

While that heats up take a shallot and chop it up.

You only need one good sized whole shallot. Keep the other one to use for something else later.

Go back to your (hopefully) medium heat sauce pan and put in 1/3 cup sugar.

{that's sugar...cant you tell?}

However enticing it may be, do not stir.

Wait.

Now. once the sugar has begun to melt, you can give it a little stir. 

Use a wooden spoon. Metal on metal is no bueno. And plastic stirring in such heat equals melted plastic.

Keep stirring OCCASIONALLY (does anyone else have a habit of wanting to stir a lot?) until the sugar dissolves and becomes a golden caramel color. 

Resist the urge to put that over a bowl of ice cream. 

Instead. Pour in the chopped shallots, 1/2 teaspoon salt, 1 tablespoon of fish sauce, and the juice from 2 limes.

I know the picture is poor, but in case you can't tell, this thing is lighting up and boiling like crazy.

Not lighting up really. That was an exagerration.

It was a bit crazy for a bit though. I had moments of wanting to take it off the burner. 

Once again, resist, and instead stir like mad for 2 around 2 minutes. The caramel will dissolve away and the shallots will be softened and your kitchen will smell good. 

Take that sauce and pour it over the pork (which should still be in the bowl). 

Make sure each piece gets the mixture soaked in it.

Then place a grill pan (or a good saute pan if you don't have one) on medium-high heat. 

Once hot, lightly oil the pan, and place the pork on it.

After just one minute flip the pork over

The pork will have this caramel colored glaze on it.

After one more minute, take off your done pork and put it on a plate to the side while you finish up the other pieces. 

Once down you are now ready to assemble your dish. 

First, place the noodles in a bowl or a plate. Follow that with the carrots and the green onions.

It should look like this...

Then add the chopped peanuts, the pork, and the fresh herbs. 

Pour the fish sauce over it (what you whisked together earlier) and boom. 

A Meal. 

Post bite thoughts:

Mark and I loved this meal, but it definitely was not up to par with what we missed so dearly from CStat. I've decided next time I need to make more fish sauce, add some jalapeno peppers in it for a kick of spicy, and add some chopped lettuce as well for more vegis. 

But, this was still really good and will definitely be made again (with those few additions). 

Rumor has it that in California the Vietnamese, Chinese, Japanese, and Thai food restaurants are incredible. 

Along with the Gourmet Cookbook we bought at Borders, we also bought some California and San Francisco reading guides. The Chinatown and Japantown sections were read instantly.

Mark says that is what he is most excited about. 

I semi-agree :)

Shrimp Spring Rolls

Have you ever gone through a "cleansing" of sorts? That sounds weird. You know what I mean though. Ok, maybe you don't...let me explain :)


Every time around the holidays (or when my whole family gets together for an extended amount of time) I tend to divulge myself into a huge collection of greasy foods, yummy desserts, large servings from restaurants and endless amounts of chips and dip. What can I say? I love queso. My mom & dad love eating out and my mom always has an endless amount of food on hand when the family is in town. I just lose control...especially when there is queso. 

So, a couple years ago my sister introduced me to "the cleanse". Basically, we spent the next few days or a good week eating really, really healthy. I'm talking green tea at every meal, snacking on cucumbers, not having carbs, but just vegetables and some meat. Paleolithic diet at its finest.

I get a bit bored with the whole thing pretty quickly. I can't live without that queso (I actually haven't eaten queso in a good month...insane)

At one point she (the sister) introduced me to these shrimp spring rolls. They use rice paper, but we didn't include that as a heavy carb such as bread. They were delicious and I even have them on non cleansing moments such as today. So, in honor of Asian Food night at our neighborhood parish this evening, here's a little how to for shrimp spring rolls.

I added a peanut satay dipping sauce. This would not have been allowed in the cleanse, but I haven't done that in a good year...

First things first. Go to the grocery store, get your ingredients, and chop em on up. Here's a shot of them:

Here's a better list of what you need, friends:

2-3 carrots, diced up

1 green bell pepper, diced up 

*Note: I would've gotten red but it was a whole dollar more

 3-4 green onions, chopped up

lettuce, shredded up

cooked shrimp, halved up

rice paper

asian food aisle. easy to find.

I pretty much eyeball everything. I had about 3/4 pound of shrimp and used about a half head of green lettuce. The add ins always vary depending on what I have in stock or what's on sale at the store. This is something you can change things up with. I usually always use  green onions, a bell pepper, lettuce, and shrimp. Sometimes I'll add some fresh herbs, onions, or carrots. Do what ya want. 

The Aforementioned Supper

Supper. I'm not sure why I have always used that term. Dinner. Supper. Din-din. Grub. Feast.

Anyhow. For din-din the other night we had a delicious spicy pork with asparagus and brown rice. Thank you Bon Appetit for the inspiration. I have always been a very picky eater when it comes to Asian food. I think the 4 years living in Japan got to me and  I will now not settle for anything but the best.

The best in Houston. Tay-Do. Hubby, thank you for already knowing the best Chinese-Vietnamese joint in town. You're the fried to my rice. The pork to my vermicelli. The egg to my roll.

Let's get this recipe rolling.

Here's what you need:

3 Tbsp. Soy Sauce
1 Tbsp. Sherry or Sake
2 tsp. corn starch
1 lb. ground pork
3 tsp. Asian sesame oil
12 ounces medium asparagus spears, cut and trimmed to 1/2 inch pieces
1 green jalapeno pepper, minced with seeds
1 Tbsp. minced and peeled ginger
2 Tbsp. Oyster Sauce
1 tsp. honey
2 green onions, thinly sliced
Salt

And a little something that I like to add to most dishes. 1 minced clove of...

And here is what you do... apologies in advance for lack of photos. This meal is quick. Stir fry crazy. To try and take pictures on my first meal to blog was a huge undertaking that I wasn't willing to take. One day. I'll dream big.

Whisk together 1 tablespoon of the soy, sherry, and cornstarch in a bowl. Toss the pork in with it and let it marinate for a bit. I had it marinate while I chopped up and measured things.

If you're savvy and have a gas stove and a wok on hand, then grab that out. If you have an electric stove as the Felder's do, then you'll have to settle with a nice, deep skillet.

Heat the wok/skillet to high heat. Once it's hot (you can sprinkle some water on it and if it is sizzling then it's good) THEN put enough oil in the pan to coat it (2-3 teaspoons). Lesson #1 from Mark. Heat the pan, then put the oil on it. Wise man right there.

Toss in the asparagus, jalapeno, garlic, and ginger. Stir that stuff around for about 3 minutes. By now your kitchen smells heavenly. After 3 minutes transfer that mixture to a plate.

Now. Add a bit more oil to the pan and then throw in the pork. Using a spoon, break up the pork into small pieces and stir it all around.

After about 4 minutes go by add the asparagus mixture to the pan again. Then, throw in the mixture of 2 tablespoons of soy sauce, oyster sauce, and the honey. Stir that around for about 2 minutes. Mark and I ended up adding a bit of water to moisten it up a bit.

When the mixture is looking good and complete put it on a nice platter, add the green onions for some extra garnish, and season it with salt and pepper. Put it on a plate with some yummy rice and you are golden.

Apologies on the not so great looking picture. We threw it on the plate because of how starving we were.

This dish ends up making enough for 2 and some leftovers.

So mom & dad. This means you should make it. Enough for the two of you and some leftovers. Dad loves leftovers. You don't need the Felder's to get a Felder meal anymore ;)